How Do Travel Vaccines Work?

Travel vaccines are vaccines administered to protect against certain bacterial and viral infections for travelers to places with endemic infectious diseases. Vaccines stimulate the immune system to produce antibodies against specific types of bacteria and viruses from which the vaccines are derived.

Travel vaccines include both viral and bacterial vaccines which may be live or inactivated. Live vaccines are weakened forms of the actual viruses or bacteria and provide strong and often life-long immunity similar to a natural infection, but may not be safe for persons with compromised immune systems.

Inactivated vaccines are made from proteins or fragments of the disease-causing germs, but killed to prevent replication. Inactivated vaccines contain the bacterial or viral antigen which stimulates the production of antibodies without the risk of the disease itself, but may not produce as strong immunity as live vaccines do.

Travel vaccines protect against the following infectious diseases:

• Hepatitis A and B virus infections, diseases that affect the liver
• Meningococcal disease, caused by Neisseria meningitidis bacteria serogroups A, C, Y and W-135
• Polio (poliomyelitis), a disabling disease caused by poliovirus
• Rabies, caused by the rabies virus that is transmitted when bitten or scratched by rabid animals
• Typhoid fever, caused by Salmonella typhi
• Yellow fever, a disease spread by mosquitoes, affects the liver

Travel vaccines may be administered as prophylaxis before traveling to disease-endemic areas as:

• Oral capsules
• Intramuscular (IM) injections into the muscle
• Subcutaneous (SC) injections into the tissue under the skin

The FDA-approved travel vaccines include the following:

• Hepatitis A inactivated viral vaccine for adults and children
• Hepatitis A and B inactivated viral vaccine for adults
• Meningococcal A, C, Y, and W-135 inactivated bacterial vaccine for 2 years and older individuals
• Poliovirus inactivated viral vaccine for adults and children
• Rabies inactivated viral vaccine for adults and children
• Typhoid fever live bacterial vaccine for adults and children
• Yellow fever live bacterial vaccine for adults and children

Side effects of travel vaccines may include the following:

• Injection site reactions include:
  • Erythema (redness)
  • Tenderness
  • Warmth
  • Swelling/edema
  • Pain and soreness
  • Inflammation
  • Pruritus (itching)
  • Hematoma
  • Induration (hardening of the tissue)
  • Cellulitis
• Irritability
• Headache
• Fatigue
• Asthenia (weakness)
• Drowsiness
• Pyrexia (fever)
• Malaise
• Chills
• Arthralgia (joint pain)
• Myalgia (muscle pain)
• Bone pain
• General aches
• Cervical pain (neck pain)
• Flu-like syndrome
• Abnormal crying
• Anorexia (loss of appetite)
• Diarrhea
• Nausea
• Vomiting
• Abdominal pain
• Perforated jejunum (part of the small intestine)
• Otitis media (middle ear infection/inflammation)
• Ear pain
• Impaired hearing
• Ptosis (droopy eyelids)
• Dizziness
• Vertigo
• Vestibular disorder (balance disorder)
• Syncope (fainting)
• Loss of consciousness
• Paresthesia (abnormal skin sensation)
• Tonic convulsion
• Facial paresis (impaired muscle movement)
• Guillain-Barre syndrome (neurological disorder)
• Neuropathy (nerve damage)
• Encephalitis (brain inflammation)
• Meningoencephalitis (inflammation of the brain and the membrane around it)
• Convulsions/seizures
• Upper respiratory infection
• Cough
• Oropharyngeal pain (oral and throat pain)
• Wheezing
• Dyspnea (shortness of breath)
• Rhinorrhea (nasal discharge)
• Photophobia (sensitivity to light)
• Hypersensitivity reactions such as:
  • Skin rash
  • Urticaria (hives)
  • Allergic dermatitis
  • Pruritus (itching)
  • Anaphylaxis (serious allergic reaction)
• Skin exfoliation
• Serum sickness (allergy-like reaction to the vaccine)
• Lymphadenopathy (swelling of lymph nodes)
• Increase in creatine phosphokinase (CPK)
• Increase in liver enzyme alanine aminotransferase (ALT)

Information contained herein is not intended to cover all possible side effects, precautions, warnings, drug interactions, allergic reactions, or adverse effects. Check with your doctor or pharmacist to make sure these drugs do not cause any harm when you take them along with travel medicines. Never stop taking your medication and never change your dose or frequency without consulting your doctor.

Generic and brand names of travel vaccines include:

• Havrix
• HDCV
• hepatitis A vaccine inactivated
• hepatitis a/b vaccine
• Imovax Rabies
• IPOL
• IPV
• Menactra
• meningococcal A C Y and W-135 diphtheria conjugate vaccine
• meningococcal A C Y and W-135 polysaccharide vaccine combined
• Menomune A/C/Y/W-135
• Menveo
• Poliovax
• poliovirus vaccine inactivated
• rabies vaccine
• rabies vaccine human diploid cell culture
• Twinrix
• Typhim Vi
• typhoid polysaccharide vaccine
• typhoid vaccine live
• Vaqta
• Vivotif
• yellow fever vaccine
• YF Vax